In some ways I'm a new-age kind of a guy. I had an idea of how well I'd done with the 11th grade class, but I wanted to know what they thought, so I asked them. Today's journal entry was the only one they turned in to me, without names on them. I told them I wanted their honest feedback about how the last 6 weeks have gone, what I should keep doing, what I could do to improve, etc. I promised not to read them until after I graded their last assignment, but this one was on top and one of the girls just had to show someone the last line: "P.S. Nice shoes." (I'm pretty sure that this remark was sarcastic as my shoes are nothing special.)
So I couldn't help but read the rest of it as they were on their way out. The first line was "You're a tool." They ended it by saying that I wasn't a tool and had a couple of decent comments in the middle, and I probably should have expected this. It was a tough unit of Puritan lit, some of the most boring stuff they'll read all year. I was at a loss as to how to make it interesting, engaging, or valuable, and Mrs. Teacher was no help. In fact, she laughed at me when I told her what the in-class reading was one day. "They're going to hate it," she said. I knew that already. But when I asked what she normally does for the unit I got no response. I should have expected that too. She's the kind of teacher that goes in chronological order, and this is what was next in the textbook.
So, I'm a tool. It's been cast in stone for all eternity. At least in the eyes of these 11th graders.
1 comment:
The only chance you have of being interesting is if you're interested in what you're teaching.
This is why having to stick so closely to a curriculum sucks so much.
If you haven't been given the freedom to choose what you teach, you can't be effective.
Following the textbook is death.
Find what interests you most about Puritan Lit. and teach it.
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